Shoppers, Local Officials Respond To JCPenney Closure
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Shoppers and local officials responded Thursday to the announcement that the Warsaw JCPenney is set to close this year. J.C. Penney Co. Inc. announced Wednesday its department store in Warsaw is one of two locations to close in Indiana by May. The Warsaw store, which opened in 1987, employs three full-time and 22 part-time employees. Those employees were notified of the closure Wednesday. The other Indiana store closing is in Marion. The department store chain said Wednesday it will close 33 of its 1,100 stores and slash 2,000 jobs. The move will help save $65 million a year, the company said. Mark Dobson, Warsaw Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce president, said he heard Thursday about the closure. “No one ever wants to see a store close, but I think the overall impact on the local economy is negligible,” he said. “I am more concerned about the people who will be losing their jobs. It is being closed for a reason because customers in Kosciusko County are choosing other options.” Dobson said the community is looking foward to an opportunity to find a new retailer to fill the vacancy. Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said the city has been supportive of JCPenney for 25 years. “The competitive retail environment in our community has caught up with them and I am sorry to see it happen,” Thallemer said. “Hopefully with the demand for retail and employees in our community those employees will be able to find replacement jobs.” Shoppers at the store Thursday afternoon commented on the closure. Store employees and managers declined to comment. Tena Flynn, Rochester, was at the store picking out a sweater Thursday. Flynn said one of her RR Donnelley co-workers informed her of the closure and said the news was disappointing. “My response was, ‘What they are closing?’,” Flynn said. She said when she gets off work she shops there once or twice a month. She said she will change her shopping habits by shopping at other local stores for clothing instead of going out of town. Sandra Coffie and her neighbor Steven DePlanty said they shop at the store together often and were surprised when they heard about the closure on the news. “This is one of the best places to shop in town, it’s a heartache,” DePlanty said. “I always buy baby clothes for my grandchild and ship them to South Dakota because they are about half as cheap as they are there.” Coffie, who bought a robe Thursday, said she is disappointed by the closure and has always counted on the low prices. Brooke Honeycutt, Akron, who works in Warsaw, said she has shopped for her three stepchildren and herself at the store. She shops at the store twice a month. “I like the selection here and probably will start shopping on the JCPenney online site,” Honeycutt said.
